[2] Laid down by Chantiers Schneider et Cie at Chalon-sur-Saône, France, on 30 January 1931[2][4] with the pennant number Q176, she was launched on 22, 25,[4] or 26[2] May 1932, according to different sources.

She experienced a delay during her journey under tow to Toulon, France, on the Rhône in early October 1933 when she was forced to wait at Lafarre for 48 hours while the river was in flood.

[2] When World War II began with Nazi Germany′s invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, La Vestale was stationed at Bizerte in Tunisia as part of the 17th Submarine Division in the 6th Squadron, a component of the 4th Flotilla in Maritime Prefecture IV.

On 9 December 1940, the 17th Submarine Division — now reduced to La Vestale, Aréthuse, and La Sultane — departed Toulon in company with the submarine Archimède and the Élan-class sloop-of-war Commandant Bory bound for Casablanca in French Morocco, which they reached on 16 December.

[5] While operating from Dakar, La Vestale and Atalante both sustained diesel engine damage that could not be repaired in French West Africa.

[2] Some time later, Drôme, escorted by one of the patrol boats, detached from the convoy to proceed separately to Ténès, Algeria.

[2] During the predawn hours of 19 May 1943, the British destroyer HMS Wishart approached La Vestale and, mistaking her for a German U-boat, attacked her.

[2] In August 1945, when World War II ended with the surrender of Japan, she was part of the Oran Submarine Group, waiting to be placed in reserve.